Friday, 30 November 2012

BoSt Galleries- Impressions Path 2

BoSt Galleries- Impressions Path 2

Zen
Story:

The Sound
of One Hand

“The master of Kennin temple was Mokurai, Silent
Thunder. He had a little protege named Toyo who was only twelve years old. Toyo
saw the older disciples visit the master's room each morning and evening to
receive instruction in sanzen or personal guidance in which they were given
koans to stop their mind from wandering.

Toyo wished to do sanzen also.

"Wait a while," said Mokurai. "You
are too young."

But the child insisted, so the teacher finally
consented.

In the evening little Toyo went at the proper time
to the threshold of Mokurai's sanzen room. He struck the gong to announce his
presence, bowed three times outside the door, and went to sit before the master
in respectful silence.

"You can hear the sound of two hands when they
clap together," said Mokurai. "Now show me the sound of one
hand."

Toyo bowed and went to his room to consider this
problem. From his window he could hear the music of the geishas. "Ah, I
have it!" he proclaimed.

The next evening, when his teacher asked him to
illustrate the sound of one hand, Toyo began to play the music of the geishas.

"No, no," said Mokurai. "That will
never do. That is not the sound of one hand. You've not got it at all."

Thinking that such music might interrupt his
meditation, Toyo moved his bedding to a quiet place. He meditated again.
"What can the sound of one hand be?" He happened to hear some water
dripping. "I have it," imagined Toyo.

When he next appeared before his teacher, Toyo
imitated dripping water.

"What is that?" asked Mokurai. "That
is the sound of dripping water, but not the sound of one hand. Try again."

In vain Toyo meditated to hear the sound of one
hand. He heard the sighing of the wind. But the sound was rejected.

He heard the cry of an owl. This also was refused.

The sound of one hand was not the locusts.

For more than ten times Toyo visited Mokurai with
different sounds. All were wrong. For almost a year he pondered what the sound
of one hand might be.

At last little Toyo entered true meditation and
transcended all sounds. "I could collect no more," he explained
later, "so I reached the soundless sound."